Emmy has dirtgirlworld duo partying into the Cannes night

UPDATE, 2.30pm: IT'S the bit of Whiporie "genuineness" in dirtgirlworld that's given the creation its winning edge at the International Digital Emmy Awards just announced in Cannes last night.

This morning a tired, but elated Cate McQuillen and Huey Eustace staggered into their hotel room after celebrating winning the International Digital Emmy for Children and Young People.

"I'm just waching Huey staggering along with the box containing the statue," Cate said.

Almost as exciting as winning was receiving the statue from one of Cate's childhood heroes KISS singer/bass player Gene Simmons.

"It was so rock and roll, accepting the statue from someone I'd admired so much as a kid," Cate said.

After a hectic Monday preparing for the award ceremony at the Martinez Hotel in Canne, Cate and Huey plan to get away from it all when they finally wake up.

"We're wagging the big conference in the morning," Cate said.

"There's a restaurant up in the hills behind Canne which was a famous haunt for Impressionist painters like Monet and Mattisse, we're going out there for lunch."

Although their chaotic Monday ended in triumph for the pair and their creation, they were not confident as they looked at their opposition.

"In the morning all the finalists received their medals and we saw what other people had been doing," she said.

"It was amazing and we were starting to think it's a good thing for us just to make the finals."

Contemplating what gave them their winning edge, Cate put it down to the genuineness and integrity that comes from their background in Whiporie.

"Dirtgirl isn't the idea of a New York executive sitting in his office deciding it would be a good idea to do a show about a girl who likes to play in the garden," she said.

"There's 24 judges from around the world and they all recognised something universal in the appeal dirtgirl has.

"I think there's big hunger for simplicity out there. People love the idea of simpler world dirtgirl and her friends live in."

And Cate thinks the hi-tech delivery of dirtgirl world is something parents appreciate.

"The fact that kids are using computers and their iPads to access something that encourages them to get outside and get active is an added appeal for us," she said.

8.45AM: NORTHERN Rivers-produced children's show dirtgirlworld has won an Emmy Award for the program's digital spin-offs.

The pair behind the show, Cate McQuillen and Huey Eustace were in Cannes, France, last night to receive the award after having been trapped on their Whiporie property by floodwater when their nomination came through.